Social buttons

Languages

West Ham showed no disrespect to Senegal - McDonald

West Ham assistant boss Neil McDonald says the club have shown no disrespect to Senegal over the international withdrawal of Diafra Sakho.

Published

9 January 2015

Striker Sakho will miss the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea this month due to a persistent back injury, but Senegalese officials have been angered by the nature of his withdrawal and accused West Ham of a "lack of respect" for not alerting them to the problem sooner.

Senegal Football Federation president Augustin Senghor has since signalled his intention to request that Sakho not be allowed to represent his club should he return from injury sooner than expected.

However, McDonald insists West Ham have nothing to hide.

"He's injured at the moment," he said. "We've been in constant contact with the Senegalese management team on his injury.

"Since he came back from playing with Senegal, he's been uncomfortable, but he's got through the games and then he got injured against West Brom.

"There's no way he can fly, he's probably going to miss the Africa Cup of Nations because of his injury, and we're going to miss him too."

And McDonald claims the Upton Park club have co-operated fully with the African nation, who have called up West Ham midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate.

"I think we have respected them by giving them regular updates on his injury and keeping in constant contact," he continued. "We've asked them to come across and assess him.

"He's had scans at the club, not to back it up but to prove that he is injured. All we can do is give them as much information as we have.

"I think lack of respect may have been taken out of context as Cheikhou Kouyate has gone. We're not trying to stop anyone from representing their country, the lad's injured."

Asked whether Sakho would be prevented from playing for the duration of the Africa Cup of Nations, he added: "I'm not 100 per cent sure what that situation is.

"I believe they have announced the squad and Diafra's not in it. We're not sure how long he is going to be out for anyway."